


can't breathe

by the_forgotten_daydreamer



Series: DC Comics [1]
Category: Batfamily - Fandom
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is a Saint, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Batfamily (DCU), Blood, Blood and Violence, Brotherly Love, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson has a concussion, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, F/M, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Major Character Injury, Medical Procedures, Near Death, Needles, Pain, Police Officer Dick Grayson, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Surgery, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Vomit, Vomiting, Wally and Dick are best friends, concussion, headache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22223971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_forgotten_daydreamer/pseuds/the_forgotten_daydreamer
Summary: A drug bust goes wrong, and Dick gets badly injured. Hopefully, the BatFamily and a certain speedster will help him before it's too late.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Bat Family & Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & Wally West
Series: DC Comics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610575
Comments: 41
Kudos: 274





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this in my doc draft for a whole year, I can't believe it...  
> Hope you enjoy!  
> -  
> I do not own DC Comics nor there characters.

It'd been less than a month since Nightwing had moved from Blüdhaven to Gotham City. 

Batman very clearly needed help, so he decided to come to the rescue. Bruce denied it, but the newspaper were being crystal clear about it. Of course, reporters knew nothing of what was causing the people behind the masks to struggle, but Dick was aware of everything that had happened.

At the beginning, the agile man wasn't planning on staying at the Manor for a long time- " _a week or so, just to make sure you guys are all okay!"-_ but considering some of the most recent events that had occurred in the family, he didn't really feel like leaving them alone. Furthermore, things had been calm in his city for a while, and he knew that the minor criminals could be easily handled by his colleagues at the police station, so he decided to take a break anyway.

Bruce, of course, had insisted that he left soon, because he wanted his son to go back to his city- _and because he doesn't want to let people know he's in trouble,_ Dick thought- but Alfred had blatantly hinted that the billionaire could use some help in such tiring times.

Tim had just gone through the splenectomy, and was still recovering, his immune system weak and prone to deteriorating, so he was out of commission and could only take care of minor issues.

Jason had just started to see a therapist, mostly to make Bruce shut up about his anger management issues, and neither of the stubborn men knew how to handle emotions and personal issues well, the thick wall between them getting sturdier by the day.

Damian was still getting used to Gotham's dynamics, the "no killing" rule not suiting his style.

Then, Cass had just left the city, going on some unknown mission that nobody was aware of, and this was perceived from Bruce as an act of distrust from her. 

And truthfully Bruce was trying to keep it together, but it was obvious that he was failing. Emotionally speaking, he was compromised and tired, stressed to the core: this was what forced Dick to stay in Gotham for a while.

Furthermore, Babs had offered to stay at the manor to help, and Dick saw that as an opportunity to make up for his mistakes.

-

The night started off with a blast, quite literally: a group of dealers had set explosives to cause a distraction to handle a major deal with a foreign group, but Oracle had managed to intercept a communication and immediately proceeded to inform the vigilantes.

"Nightwing," Batman instructed during a chase, "to your left!"

"Gotcha, B!" the young man replied, already following the fugitive, "why don't you spare me some time and just let me capture you!?" he asked, jokingly.

The criminal- a major drug dealer who also run a good amount of unauthorized brothels, to be more precise- didn't slow down and kept running.

"Do I really have to do this?" Nightwing sighed, jumping from one roof to another, never losing track of the scumbag, who was just a couple of roofs ahead.

"Dude, it's almost 3AM and I really, really want to sleep!" the boy yelled, sincerely tired.

"Nightwing, cut it out!" a rough voice shouted through the commlink.

"Come on, JayBird, at least let me have some fun!" Dick exclaimed, "you guys are not even paying me to do this!"

"Nobody asked you to come to this hellhole, you dildo!" the teal-eyed boy replied.

"Enough," Bruce sighed, "just focus on the mission. Hood, what's your status?"

"I have five, no, six dealers wrapped up and ready to go to a better place"

"Don't you dare killing them, or-" Red Robin intervened, while freeing a bunch of poor ladies, unwillingly enslaved as prostitutes, being the only one assigned to a relatively stress-free activity.

"Relax, I won't. I just wanted to see if you were listening!" Red Hood snickered, rolling his eyes and delivering a kick to a dealer who'd started to squirm out of the restraints, "Hurry up, would you?"

"Nightwing?" the father of the boys interrupted.

"I'm on pursuit; this one's fast and violent, I don't want to risk it," Dick replied, "I'll send my location, meet me there in five. Nightwing out!" he said, ending the transmission and graciously leaping from a building to another.

-

The dealer, just as Dick had planned, trapped himself on the edge of a roof, unable to go on as there was no other building in front of him.

"Fast on your feet, not so much in your head, am I right?" the vigilante joked.

"Stay back," the criminal yelled, pointing a gun at the boy, "or else".

Nightwing started laughing, "Dude, do you really think I wear this suit for fun?" he asked, gesturing to himself, "sure, it suits me perfectly, but it's kevlar, and you can't tear it with a bullet" he finished.

The criminal lowered the gun, eyes wide in shock, and cursed.

"Listen up, I have friends in places. If you let me go, we could settle this differently. Money's not a problem for us…"

Dick scoffed, "Thanks for the kind offer, but I just really want to see you and your friends in jail," he said, "speaking if which… Do you guys copy?" Dick asked, pressing the comlink in his left ear, "Here's my location" he added, flicking his wrist and sending a signal to the others.

_"We got them all, the one you have is the last one of the gang. Hurry up, I'm tired. Red Hood out"_

_"Got the location, we'll join you a.s.a.p., Nightwing. Batman out"_

Dick smirked, picking up his escrima sticks and looking again at the man in front of him, "Good news, your friends are all back together! So why don't you come with me and join 'em, mh?" he offered, still trusting his not-excessively-violent approach. If being a cop taught him anything, was that his country really needed to work on its methods, sometimes way too violent for the situation.

The dealer grunted unamused, raising his gun again, and Dick's heart sunk: he really, _really_ didn't want to beat anyone tonight, but he had no choice, apparently.

He stepped forward carefully, not wanting to set the man on edge more than normal. Dick saw his finger pressing down on the trigger as if it was in slow motion, and immediately dropped to his side to avoid being shot in the head.

Luckily, the bullet missed him; unluckily, the gunshot went off just a few inches from his ear, exploding in a deafening noise that cause Dick to stumble backwards, hands pressed on his bleeding ear, grunting and screaming.

All he heard with his right hear was shrill static, every other sound dull and not remotely discernible. 

The comlink inserted in the other ear drilled panicked screams and question Dick couldn't quite hear in his swimming head, vision dark and unsteady.

Dick desperately tried to raise his eyes and lock them to the dealer's, but was surprised to find the man only a few steps before him, approaching rapidly and delivering a punch to Dick's face.

The hit itself would've barely hurt Dick in a normal situation, but the young vigilante was already disoriented and nauseated, balance completely lost, and the punch only aggravated his situation, sending him to the edge of the rooftop. His masked gaze rose once again, pleading.

But the man seemed to have no intention to give up now, and Dick cursed his luck, loudly.

"See ya, kiddo!" he heard the man yell with a smirk as he was pushed off and flew into the air, the scumbag tinier with every passing millisecond of his fall. 

Dick heard the familiar sound of tires screeching against the ruined pavement, and then he knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally found some time and watched Titans s2, and it's really cool! Just hope the next time the animation team will have better CGI tools 'cause some special effects look a bit wacky. But despite that, this season's pretty awesome, I highly recommend it. I mean, I still have to watch the last 2 eps, but I think they’ll be as good as the rest. NO SPOILERS PLZ.  
> Now, back to business… This chapter’s a bit longer than the previous (and next) one, and frankly I'm not too impressed by how it came out. Hopefully you'll like it! Sorry, I haven't written anything DC related in months and I'm not used to these characters anymore.

There were voices above him, so distraught yet dull to his ringing ears.

“...head!”

_ Whose head? _

“Is... breathing...”

_ Who!?  _

“Dick! Please don’t…”

_ Me..? What? _

Dick didn’t even realize his eyes were closed until his heavy eyelids got opened by gloved hands, steady and expert, a bright light flashed into his pupils.

“Shit, he’s… -ssion! … help him now!”

A guttural noise made its way up his throat, an awful gurgling echoed by fresh, copper blood spilling from his soft lips, and before he knew it, Dick was rapidly flipped on his side as he sputtered and vomited blood, airways blissfully free. He panted, a hand patting his back gently as if he were to break from an instant to another.

“That’s it, … okay… hear me? Breathe!”

Dick, at this point, understood that the voices were talking to him. But who did they belong to? Who were they? And where was he?

The people above him must had sensed his confusion, as a face appeared before him, hair ruffled and a stubble on their face.

“...Br’ce...” he breathed out in relief, cringing at the pain but managing a thin smile on his bloodied lips, “‘s goin’ on?”

“You fell, but you’re okay, we got you, kiddo” the man said, stroking his damp hair back and breaking the eye contact momentarily, “Tim, tell Alfred to ready the medbay. Jason, you help me getting Dick in the car as carefully as we can, then you take your bike and go help Alf. Damian, you’ll stay with him in the backseat, I’ll drive. Go!”

The boys nodded, not even shocked from the fact that their father had used their birth names despite being all dressed up and on patrol; the perimeter was clear, and nobody seemed to be spying on them. If someone were to be spying on them, that would have been a problem for later. Dick was their priority now.

Jason was already pinching Dick’s now bare feet to make sure that there wasn’t any major spinal damage; afterall, he’d fallen from a building; the vigilante shuddered, the thought of Dick hurting himself further still so real.

“St’p, y’re tickling me...” Nightwing whispered, scolding his brother or attempting to do so.

”S-sorry, I had to make sure… What hurts? We gotta move you but- but I don’t want you to feel too much pain” he admitted, uncharacteristically nervous and fidgety.

The blue-eyed vigilante seemed to be lost, and he was, because that sentence was way to elaborate to break down in his condition; Dick’s temples pulsed violently to the throbbing of his heart, rapid and shallow, and his head hurt. Also, he noticed that right ear was not hearing a thing. Panic settled in his stomach: had he gone deaf?  _ What happened? How-? _

“Dick?”

“W-wha’s going on!?” he asked, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Jason’s eyes widened, “You… You don’t remember?”

“R’member what?” he wheezed, suddenly breathless, “J-Jay, I can’t b-” he choked.  _ God,  _ his chest hurt like a bitch. Was he hit in the ribs? Why did they hurt like this? 

The voices above him were more panicked than before, low but very clearly anxious.

“You got him?” he head Bruce say; Dick didn’t see it, but his brother nodded vigorously at their father’s question. 

And then, pain. Unbearable, shock-inducing pain. The scream that got ripped from Dick didn’t even seem his, and all the people around him did their absolute best to keep their stomachs at ease, the blood-curdling scream painful and dizzying.

Bruce swallowed his own bile, taking most of Dick’s weight by holding him from his shoulders as Jason held his muscular legs, a little lower than the rest of his body as his own knees buckled and trembled.

“Jason! Jason, breathe. He’ll be fine, but I need to get him in the car now. Come on, work with me, buddy!” the Bat pleaded, feeling for his rebel son’s fear but not having enough time to take care of him too now.

Thankfully, Jason obliged, and Dick got loaded in the backseat of the car, supine and with his head on Damian’s lap.

Bruce quickly jumped in the front seat, Tim at his side, as Jason ran for his bike and hurried away, breaking possibly every rule of the code but not caring one single bit about.

Damian’s dark eyes, not covered from the domino mask anymore, gazed through Dick’s, cloudy and disoriented, pupils far different from each other. 

“Dami...”

“Are you okay, Grayson?” the boy asked, eyebrows knitted in worry.

“Mh… Dunno...” the man admitted, blinking slowly, “M’head hurts ‘nd I c-can’t breathe well…”.

A hum, “You probably have broken ribs which may have punctured a lung, which might explain you throwing up blood; as for the headache, you probably a concussion, but at least we don’t have to worry about anything spinal, even if-”

“Damian, please!” Bruce called, sounding frustrated and anxious, “just keep him awake and don’t talk about that”. Poor kid, his father didn’t blame him for his coldness and methodical behaviour, although he did wish for him to be a bit more sympathetic. The man huffed out a laugh at the irony. 

__ “Bruce?”

“Yes, Tim?”

“Nothing, it’s just that you seemed kinda lost and, well, you got the wheel” the teen pointed out timidly, “E.T.A. two minutes,” he then announced, turning to his brothers, “how are you holdin’ up, Dickie-bird?” he tried, a faint attempt to lighten the mood.

“Wanna sleep...” 

“I know, man, but you can’t. Not yet, anyway”.

Dick grunted, annoyed, but sighed and stared above him, going past Damian’s worried gaze.

-

They propped him on a gurney in the medbay, gently, and stripped him down to his boxers, forced to cut the kevlar suit; Barbara was the only one- beside Alfred, of course- to stay close as the butler checked on the injured man, while Bruce, Jason, Tim and Damian lingered a few steps back, biting their nails and waiting for the verdict.

“Three broken ribs,” Alfred announced, expert hands ghosting over Dick’s chest, the smallest contact making him hiss and flinch, “the swelling in his chest indicates a punctured lung,” the man proceeded, sparing him a sympathetic look, “and finally, the concussion and his busted eardrum. Those personally worry me the less, as Master Richard seems to be rather aware of his surroundings. I will monitor his condition, anyway” he said, looking at Bruce, “but, going back to his ribcage and right ear…” Alfred breathed in and out steadily, “I will have to operate them. The ribs first, possibly”

“Can’t we call Doctor Thompkins too? She might help!” Tim tried, but Jason promptly shook his head, “She’s out of town- no- out of the fuckin’ states for the next two weeks”.

“Shit...”

“Damian.”

“Not the time, father!” the boy scolded, “What are you waiting for, Pennyworth? Operate him!”

The butler sighed, “I wish I could start immediately, but I’m afraid we do not have enough blood bags to provide for the loss and the surgery-”

“Unless we call West and ask him to help,” Barbara reasoned, “he’d be happy to do so, I’m sure”.

A distraught grunt from Dick startled them, “Don’t call Wally… He’s busy… Dun wanna disturb him…” the vigilante croaked out.

“We don’t have a choice! West’s a universal donor and can be here in a minute!” Tim insisted, “Don’t be so stubborn, Dick” .

The Englishman nodded, convinced, “Then, please do contact mr West. I shall bandage the lad’s head in the meantime” he said, and started medicating Dick’s wounded head.

Bruce nodded, and looked over Jason, “You have West’s number?”

“No, but I have Roy’s and he has his. I’ll call him now” he said, stepping away to make the call.

Barbara went to collect tools and materials for the surgery from the cabinets, while Damian and Tim did their best to calm Dick down without letting him fall into a slumber.  _ Not yet, anyway,  _ Red Robin repeated in his head.

-

Literally two minutes later, the Manor’s loud doorbell rang, and as soon as Jason opened it, the redhead speedster rushed in- quite literally- directly to the Cave.

“Dick!?” he yelled as soon as he entered the hideout, immediately spotting the cot and being there in the blink of an eye, “dude, Dick, my man, talk to me!”

“West, for the love of God, calm down” Damian commented, rolling his eyes, “don’t get him all riled up again” 

“Sorry, sorry- huh...”

Tim scoffed, “Damian”

“Damian, right, sorry. I’m so used to ‘demon spawn’ that… Nevermind” Wally laughed, looking back at his friend, “Can you hear me?”

“Y-yes,” Dick replied, smiling, “wh’re you doin’ here?”

“Your family’s gonna steal my blood and give it to you,” the speedster explained, “didn’t they tell you that?”

“Mh… Dunno...” Dick replied, eyes scrunched up in pain and confusion.

Tim mouthed that yes, they had told him, but that he was too out of it now, and Wally nodded, understanding immediately.

Barbara joined them in that moment, supplies propped on her legs, “Hi, Wally” she smiled, as he bowed down to kiss her forehead, “Hi Babs, you good?”

“Could be better,” she said, shooting a stern look to her boyfriend.

Wally laughed, “Yeah, he’s a reckless bastard, I know. But he’ll be fine!” he said, as Alfred arrived.

“Ah, mr West, I see you’ve arrived”

“How did you not hear him- ouch” Damian commented, interrupted by Tim’s pointy elbow in his arm.

“Come on, Alfie, take my blood, I want to help Dick as soon as I can”

“Yes, we shall begin soon. Come on, sit tight” the butler said, moving a chair that was previously there and placing it next to Wally.

“How much can we take?” the man asked, and the redhead held up three fingers, “As long as you provide me a lot of soda and sweets, I can give you about three liters-”

“What!? We can barely give 400 milligrams per time...” Tim pointed out.

“But I produce blood waaay faster than you! Come on, let’s start”

-

The donation was over soon, and the moment Alfred got the needle out of Wally- the young man holding up a shaky thumb after making them take an extra liter,  _ just to be safe! _ \- he went over to Dick, pushing his gurney in the sterile room.

After getting Dick hooked up to a fluids IV and to a heart monitor, Alred made a small cut with the bistouri just along the ribs, parallel to those, and started the surgery.

The fine tube he inserted just below the armpit startled the semi-unconscious vigilante, not passed out because Bruce had insisted on keeping him partially awake, afraid he might fall asleep and never wake up.

“A-Alf, ge ‘t out...” he pleaded as the butler kept operating, biting his lip under the mask, “pl’se take it out, I can’t...”

The heart monitor beeped crazily, but Alfred didn’t let himself fret, and breathed in and out rhythmically, “In a minute, it will be over. I won’t operate your ribs until I can get the go for general anesthesia, I promise,” the man reassured his step-son, “I promise, Dick. My dear child, you will be okay, I promise. Hang on,” he said, sliding the tube deeper into Dick’s skin.

The younger man let out a desperate yelp, the mind-numbing pain taking over him completely.

He couldn't take it anymore, he felt like he was going to die. Overwhelmed by fear, agony and uncertainty, blissfully, his eyes rolled back in his eyes, and he passed out, the voice calling his name far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been really fun to write some angst not involving the VLD universe (you may have noticed that I am obsessed with that, lol) even if this work's not remotely as angsty as I thought it would have been.  
> Little clarification: the procedures I described are real (I don't know the medical terms of everything, though), as a friend of mine underwent those *without* anesthesia (I still don't get why).  
> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven’t had the time to finish Titans s2, ugh, I only need a couple of hours for the last two episodes, how hard can it be! The answer is: very hard when you have a 9 to 5 job that you don’t like and that exhausts you both physically and mentally lol (it’s a 6-month contract and I’m on the 1st week… I can do this…). Now, back to “can’t breathe”, here’s the third and final chapter of this fic. Hope you enjoy it ;)

Dick came to muffled voices and a steady beeping sound, his world toppling over; a small, warm hand found its place on his slack cheek, thumb gently rubbing the spot in a soothing gesture.

His blue eyes slowly crept open, not focusing immediately: the blurry figures before them slowly came into focus, revealing Barbara and Wally, each on one side of the bed, their features showing a mix of concert and relief.

The girl was the first to talk as she retrieved her hand, speaking softly and slowly, "Are you with us, Dick?".

Dick's eyebrow rose at the question-  _ where else am I supposed to be?-  _ but soon the recent events came to his mind.

Briefly thinking about it, the last thing he remembered was entering the operating theatre in the Cave, and then… Voices, lights, screams- his own? Others'? He did not know- and then, the dark abyss of nothingness.

He remembered feeling as if he were floating in space, the utter pain numbing his whole body.

"Dick?" Wally called urgently, prying him from his trance, "dude, you're scaring us"

"Babe, please, just say something if you're there" Babs added, taking her boyfriend's still hand into his own.

Swallowing his dry throat, the young vigilante smiled weakly and spoke, his voice hoarse, "Yeah, 'm here…" 

"Oh, thank God you're okay!".

Barbara smirked, crossing her arms, "Actually, thank Alfred…"

"Isn't that the same, though?" Wally laughed, the other redhead following him.

Dick laughed too, but groaned shortly after, regretting his action, “Ouch...” he murmured, his IV-free hand flying up to his head, wondering why it hurt so intensely. A quick flashback rolled before his eyes, and he sighed in defeat at the painful memory. __

_ Right... _

His ear, he’d forgotten about that.

“-ck? Dude, snap out of it!” Wally yelled, exasperatedly clicking his fingers before his friend’s dazed expression, who sobered immediately, “Oh- sorry, I… I was just remembering something...” he admitted. A shaky sigh escaped Dick’s uncharacteristically chapped lips as he spoke, “So, my ear..?” he asked, lowering his gaze and letting it rest on his trembling hands, resting on his covered lap.

Dick didn’t see that the two people before him swallowed silently, a thin layer of anxiety-induced sweat forming on their pale foreheads.

“Huh… Listen, we-”

“Am I deaf from that ear?” Dick interrupted his girlfriend abruptly, regretting it but still being pissed.

“No!” Wally clarified immediately, adjusting his tone after yelling, “it’s just a temporary thing… Alfred operated it along with the ribs and it’ll heal in some time”.

Barbara nodded too, “The chances of hearing loss are so slim we don’t even want to take them into account”. The vigilante raised his eyes slightly, “Really..?”

“Yes!” the redheads confirmed simultaneously.

Before Dick could reply, his brothers, father and step-father rushed in the room, alarmed.

“What’s going on!?” asked Bruce, looking absolutely frantic as he approached Dick, shoving Wally aside not too gently- he would apologize later, he noted mentally- and quickly cupped his son’s sleepy face, “we heard yelling and immediately came here. What’s wrong? Where does it hurt? Can you talk? Do y-”

“Bruce, chill,” Dick replied with a smile, rolling his eyes in amusement, “I’m okay, nothing’s wrong. We were just… Just talking” he said, taking his father’s wrists and gently lowering his hands.

“You piece of shit, you gave us all a heart attack...” Jason sighed, rubbing his eyes, “how are you feelin’, Dickie-bird?”.

Dick just shrugged.

“That’s not an answer,” Damian replied, as Tim wheezed as he clutched his side, the splenectomy scar throbbing for the dash he made to the room, “Next time don’t- don’t yell like that, guys” he said out of breath as Alfred guided him to the chair near the bed.

“I agree with Master Timothy. Please, refrain from alarming the whole mansion, especially in such a… Delicate situation” the Englishman stated, still patting Tim’s back in a faint attempt to even his breathing out, “although we are extremely glad that you are fine, Master Dick” he finished with a tender smile.

“Yeah, we were scared you’d die on us like that, which by the way would have been a dick-move… See what I did there?”.

Damian scoffed, looking away, “Your ‘dick’ jokes never get old, Todd” 

“Shut it, shortpants...”

“Watch it-!”

Bruce physically put himself between his sons, pinching the bridge of his nose as the two glared daggers at each other, but then looked at Dick, “I’m sorry you got hurt, son. I shouldn’t have let you go after the most dangerous of the gang without proper backup, that was stupid… I’m so sorry” the man breathed out, sincerely mortified as he lowered his head slightly.

“We all are,” Barbara cut in, “I should have been more careful while planning the bust”

“Me too, I should’ve totally lent you a gun-” Bruce glared, and Jason cleared his throat, “or maybe just a taser… Those escrima sticks are cool but not always practical”

“Guys,” Dick interrupted, raising his hands, in midair, “enough with the blame-cycle, it’s kinda embarrassing and useless. I’m fine, seriously! I was the one in charge of the gang’s boss and I shouldn’t have taken the situation so lightly. It’s nobody’s fault if not mine… Plus, again, I’m fine,” he said, giving thumbs up and flashing a comforting smile, “I’ll be good as new in a couple of weeks”

“About that,” Tim, who’d finally regained his breath, spoke up, “you’ll probably need another surgery for your ribs and one for your ear. To that, you can add physical therapy… It’ll take about two months to be back on the job,” he blurted out, “sorry...”

“It’s fine,” Dick said, a bit upset but fully aware that nothing else could be done, “it’ll take time but I’ll be back to do what I like doing, and that’s what matters to me. Two weeks, two months or two years, I don’t care as long as I know I will be able to go back to what I love with the people I love the most” he said, blushing slightly.

It wasn’t a secret that Dick was a very emotional and romantic person, but admitting such a thing to his family, its members so broody and sometimes cold, was weird for him.

He didn’t expect to be submerged by hugs and tender kisses on the forehead, Jason and Damian only holding his hands and looking away, physical contact still a taboo to them both.

It would take time to heal, Dick knew that, but it would be okay. 

He would be okay, because he wasn’t alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that’s a wrap! Is this fic good? I don’t know. Did I like writing this? Heck yeah I did! I missed writing DC related stuff and will do more of it in the future. Check out “too hurt”, my Jason-centered oneshot (I don’t know how to link stuff, if you do please help me, I’m totally clueless!) in the meantime if you’re interested.  
> Bye, see you soon!

**Author's Note:**

> DON'T READ AND RUN!  
> Leave kudos and comments, please, they mean the world to me :)  
> See you soon~


End file.
